There's a whole category of items almost every parent knows well: things you use intensely for a few months and then store away forever. The twin stroller used for two summers, the car seat the grandparents keep "for visits," the travel crib opened three times in a year. Expensive, bulky, and used for a tiny fraction of their useful life.
This is exactly where peer-to-peer baby gear rental makes sense on both sides. For the owner it's a way to recoup a significant purchase; for the person looking — traveling parents, grandparents hosting grandchildren, families expecting a second child — it's a smart alternative to buying. In this guide we'll cover what's actually worth renting out, how much you can earn, and how to handle hygiene and safety, which matter more in this category than in any other.
Why baby gear is perfect for renting
Three traits make this category especially suited to peer-to-peer rental. The first is age-based obsolescence: an infant car seat covers roughly 0 to 13 kg, a travel crib stops being useful around age two or three. The child outgrows the item long before the item wears out. The second is the high purchase price: a mid-range stroller costs between €300 and €700, a certified car seat between €150 and €400. The third is travel demand: families who move around often don't want to haul bulky gear into a car or onto a plane, and look for a temporary solution at their destination.
The result is a market where supply (items sitting in basements) and demand (temporary needs) meet naturally. It's the same logic behind the circular economy applied to peer-to-peer rental: instead of buying something new you'll barely use, you borrow it from someone who already has it gathering dust.
💡 A €500 stroller used actively for about 24 months then sits unused for years. Renting it out just 6 days a month at €9/day generates over €600 a year — recouping more than the original cost in under two years of rentals.
What's worth renting out (and what isn't)
Not all baby gear has the same rental potential. The rule of thumb is simple: the bulkier, more expensive, and more time-limited the item, the more sense it makes to rent it out. Here are the categories with the highest demand.
Strollers and lightweight travel strollers
By far the most requested. Traveling parents often look for a light, foldable stroller to use for just a few days in the city. Twin strollers, brutally expensive to buy, have niche but high-paying demand.
Car seats
In high demand from anyone renting a car on holiday, or from grandparents and relatives who occasionally host children. Be warned: this is the category with the strictest safety requirements (more on that below). A car seat with a clear history and in excellent condition rents out easily.
Travel cribs and foldable cots
Perfect for those hosting a family for the weekend, or for traveling parents who don't want to rely on the "hotel crib." Bulky to transport, so typically rented at the destination.
High chairs, bouncers and playpens
Voluminous items, used for only a few months, ideal for stays at the grandparents' or holiday homes. Steady demand but lower daily prices.
What's less worth renting out? Anything in intimate, prolonged contact with the child that's hard to deep-clean, or low-value items (a toy basket, a set of bibs). For these, the margin doesn't justify the effort.
How much you earn: ballpark prices
Prices vary by city, quality and season, but this table gives a realistic sense of net monthly earnings for the most-rented items, assuming three usage levels.
| Item | Price/day | 4 days/mo | 8 days/mo | 15 days/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightweight travel stroller | €8–12 | €29–43 | €58–86 | €108–162 |
| Twin stroller | €14–20 | €50–72 | €101–144 | €189–270 |
| Car seat (group 0+/1) | €6–10 | €22–36 | €43–72 | €81–135 |
| Travel crib / foldable cot | €7–11 | €25–40 | €50–79 | €95–149 |
| Foldable high chair | €5–8 | €18–29 | €36–58 | €68–108 |
Figures are net of the Lendmates fee and reflect an average for Italian urban and tourist areas. High-tourism cities (Rome, Florence, Venice, coastal resorts) see demand peaks in the summer months and around holidays.
Cleanliness and hygiene: the deciding factor
In no other category does hygiene weigh as heavily as in baby gear. Parents renting for their own child want concrete reassurance, and a listing that clearly signals attention to cleanliness converts far better than a generic one. This isn't just marketing — it's a real responsibility.
Before every rental, take the time to clean thoroughly. Removable fabrics on strollers and car seats should be washed or steam-sanitized; rigid parts should be cleaned with products safe for contact with children, avoiding harsh chemical residue. Document the cleaning: a photo of the freshly sanitized stroller, ideally with the fabrics just remounted, is worth a thousand words in your description.
💚 Practical tip: in your listing description, explicitly write "sanitized before every rental, fabrics washed at [temperature]." It's the phrase that reassures parents most, and according to the most active lenders it noticeably increases requests.
Safety: the golden rule for car seats
Car seats deserve their own discussion because they're safety devices, not mere accessories. There are three non-negotiable points every lender should respect.
The first is certification: in Italy car seats must be approved to current standards (ECE R44/04 or, for newer ones, i-Size / ECE R129). A seat that's too old or uncertified should not be rented out, full stop. The second is crash history: a seat involved in any accident, even a minor one, must be considered compromised and no longer safe, because structural damage may not be visible. Always state honestly that the seat has never been in a crash. The third is expiry: car seat plastic degrades over time, and many manufacturers indicate a useful life of 6–10 years from the production date stamped on the shell.
"When I rent out the car seat I always send a photo of the label with the production date and certification. Parents appreciate it: they're trusting their child's safety to my item, they want total transparency."
Communicating this information clearly isn't just an ethical duty: it's also what sets a trustworthy listing apart from one parents will discard at the first doubt. Here, transparency is also the best sales strategy.
How to write the perfect baby gear listing
Beyond the general rules for a good listing, baby gear calls for some specific care. Always state the age and weight range the item covers: a parent needs to understand in two seconds whether the seat fits their child. Specify the exact brand and model, because many parents search for a specific model they already know. Add the folded dimensions for strollers and cribs: someone traveling by car or train wants to know if it fits the trunk.
Photos, as always, are decisive. Show the item open and folded, the clean fabrics, any included accessories (rain cover, insert, carry bag). For more, it's worth reading our guides on how to photograph items for rental and how to price your rental items.
For borrowers: when renting beats buying
From the seeker's side, the math is simple. Renting wins when use is temporary or occasional: a one-week holiday, a visit from the grandchildren, a trip where you don't want to ship the stroller. In all these cases, paying a few euros a day is enormously cheaper than buying an item you'll use for a handful of days and then have to resell or store.
Buying remains the right call when use is daily and prolonged — the everyday home stroller, obviously, you buy. But for everything in between, renting eliminates the bulk, the upfront investment, and the disposal problem. It's the same logic driving more and more people to rent instead of buy items they'll barely use.
🎯 The rule of thumb for parents: if you'll use the item less than 3–4 weeks total, renting almost always beats buying and reselling. Above that threshold, weigh it case by case based on the item's value.
Practical handling: handover, deposit and return
As with every rental on Lendmates, the deposit held at booking protects the lender against damage or non-return, and is released to the borrower if the item comes back intact. For baby gear, we recommend photographing the clean item immediately before handover and again at return: these photos are your evidence in case of a dispute.
For bulky items, consider offering home delivery (perhaps for a small surcharge): many parents with newborns appreciate not having to travel. Always agree in advance on the condition the item must return in — clean, dry, with all accessories — to avoid misunderstandings. The Lendmates deposit and QR code system makes the exchange traceable and secure for both sides.
In short
Baby gear is one of the most underrated categories in peer-to-peer rental. Expensive, time-limited items, perfect for sharing instead of sitting idle. For lenders it's a concrete chance to recoup a major purchase; for borrowers, a smart way to travel light and save. The only real difference from other categories is the attention to hygiene and safety — but it's precisely that attention, communicated well, that turns a good listing into one that rents out again and again.
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